Action Items to choose from (or do all of them: your choice!) Scroll down to the matching number of your option:
- Oppose the escalating illegal military action in the waters off the shore of Venezuela
- Protect transgender young people
- Protect the health and safety of American children
- Keep up the fight for science
- Maine-specific actions
Reminder: When you call vs when you email via our reps’ websites (best way to contact them in writing), don’t forget to begin with: “Hi, my name is [name] and I’m a constituent calling from [zip code]. That is important, because if they don’t know you’re actually a constituent, your opinion will be ignored.
Contact info:
Angus King
DC: (202) 224-5344
Augusta: (207) 622-8292
Susan Collins
DC: (202) 224-2523
Augusta: (207) 622-8414
Bangor: (207) 945-0417
Chellie Pingree
DC: (202) 225-6116
Portland: (207) 774-5019
Waterville: (207) 873-5713
Jared Golden
DC: (202) 225-6306
Bangor: (207) 249-7400
Caribou: (207) 492-6009
Lewiston: (207) 241-6767
Find your State Representative:
By name: Here
By district: Here
(Please note that for those of you receiving this email who are not represented by Senators or House members in our district, I have to leave it up to you to find the contact info for your own representatives.)
Actions
1) Oppose the escalating illegal military action in the waters off the shore of Venezuela:
First, contact Congressman Golden and thank him for voting for H.Con.Res.62, the House bill “To direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Venezuela that have not been authorized by Congress.” Unfortunately, the bill failed, despite some Republicans crossing over to vote with the Democrats.
Yesterday, Senator Ruben Gallego introduced S.J.Res.100 – A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities against vessels operating in the Caribbean Sea or the Eastern Pacific Ocean that have not been authorized by Congress. Contact Senators King and Collinsand urge them to co-sponsor this bill. While we’re at it, also ask them to support Sen. Adam Schiff in his push for unanimous consent for a bill requiring the administration to release the video of the Sept. 2 boat strikes. When the administration doesn’t want us to see something, that usually means we definitely ought to see it. And if crimes were committed, Pete Hegseth needs to be impeached and prosecuted.
2) Protect transgender young people:
I apologize for being a bit behind the times recently. Life has been getting in the way. That said, the House passed H.R. 3492, the Protect Children’s Innocent Act, which will criminalize gender-affirming care for transgender young people (under 18). They also voted for H.R. 498, the bill titled “Do No Harm in Medicaid Act,” which aims to change the laws relating to Medicaid funding for procedures related to gender transition for minors, defined as individuals under the age of 18. The proposed legislation amends the Social Security Act, specifically targeting federal funding for certain medical procedures.
I, personally, an disgusted by these votes. Transgender folk are a very, very small percentage (about 1%) of the U.S. population, and gender-affirming surgeries are almost never done on young people under age 18. Regardless how one feels about helping transgender children align their physical bodies with their gender identity, it seems to me that that sort of decision belongs with the child, the parents, and their doctor, not with the federal government. International guidelines already exist for treatment of transgender children; I don’t think laws criminalizing it are the best way to go. I will never understand why the Republicans are always so concerned with what’s inside a person’s underwear.
So we should contact Jared Golden to thank him for voting against these bills. But while we’re at it, we also need to let him know that the Republicans’ eleventh-hour healthcare plan is ridiculous. It includes all the anti-woman and anti-life issues they want to push, while including nothing that will help Americans actually be able to afford their healthcare. Tell Jared Golden to support Hakeem Jeffries’s bill extending the ACA premium tax credits. It’s not an ideal solution to the problems of our healthcare system, but it’s necessary for the time being. You can read about the GOP offering here.
3) Protect the health and safety of American children:
The Department of Health and Human Services has terminated seven grants totaling millions of dollars to the American Academy of Pediatrics, including for initiatives on reducing sudden infant deaths, improving adolescent health, preventing fetal alcohol syndrome, and identifying autism early. The AAP has been a harsh critic of RFK Jr.’s chaotic and anti-science leadership of the HHS. “The sudden withdrawal of these funds will directly impact and potentially harm infants, children, youth, and their families in communities across the United States,” said Mark Del Monte, AAP’s chief executive and executive vice president. Once again, the Trump administration is risking the health of millions of vulnerable youngsters just to teach the AAP a lesson—one which, so far, the AAP is refusing to learn. Contact Senators King and Collins and Representative Golden to urge them to push back against this hostile removal of grant funds and demand the impeachment and removal of RFK., Jr. as Secretary of the Dept. of Health and Human Services.
4) Keep up the fight for science:
Russell Vought, the extreme right-wing director of the Office of Management and Budget and one of the primary architects of Project 2025, has called the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, one of the world’s leading Earth science research institutions, “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country” and said that the federal government would be “breaking up” the institution.
The National Center for Atmospheric Research is widely considered a global leader in both weather and climate change research, with programs aimed at tracking severe weather events, modeling floods and understanding how solar activity affects the Earth’s atmosphere. But Vought hates climate change, and Trump hates Colorado (he is furious that Colorado Governor Jared Polis has refused to pardon Tina Peters, the county clerk jailed for refusing to do her job of issuing a wedding permit to a same-sex couple—if I recall correctly), so here is another attack on the health of the planet and on the economy of a blue state.
Contact Senators King and Collins and Rep. Jared Golden and urge them to speak out against this destructive move.
5) Maine-specific actions:
- Thank Governor Mills for making the decision to allow LD 1971 to become law. That is the law that prevents local Maine law enforcement from working with Federal agents like those from ICE and CBP in Federal anti-immigration enforcement.
- Support the National Popular Vote bill compact:
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact was designed to base the election of the President on a one-person-one-vote basis, insuring that the Presidency would go to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and DC. The “interstate compact” would go into effect among participating states only after they collectively represent an absolute majority of Electoral College votes (currently at least 270). Then, in each Presidential election, the participating states would award all of their electoral votes to the candidate with the largest national popular vote total across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. As a result, that candidate would win the presidency by securing a majority of votes in the Electoral College.
The compact bill has been enacted into law by 18 states with 209 electoral votes, including Maine. However, this was another bill that Janet Mills allowed to become law by neither signing it into law nor vetoing it when she had the chance (like the recent LD 1971 anti-ICE-collaborating law). Plenty of Maine GOP legislators want it repealed. We have to keep support for it alive (if you agree with it, of course!).
Contact your Maine state legislators and tell them how important the National Popular Vote bill is to you.
Your representatives in the state legislature depends on your district. Here are most local districts; if you live in a different district in Maine than those above, you can find your representatives here.
–House District 11: Tiffany Strout (207- 598-7043 or email: Tiffany.Strout@legislature.maine.gov )
–House District 12: Billy Bob Faulkingham (207-460-6967 or William.Faulkingham@legislature.maine.gov –he won’t be interested, but we should certainly annoy him as much as possible)
— House District 13: Russell P. White (207- 460-6359 or email: Russell.White@legislature.maine.gov )
— House District 14: Gary Friedmann (207-460-7362 or email: Gary.Friedmann@legislature.maine.gov )
— Senate District 6: Marianne Moore (home: 207-454-0501 or 207-952-2050; State House: 207-287-1505; email: Marianne.Moore@legislature.maine.gov)
— Senate District 7: Nicole C. Grohoski (cell: 207-358-8333; State House: 207-287-1515; email: Nicole.Grohoski@legislature.maine.gov )
Yours in Civic Action,
Bold Coast Civic Alliance
